Buccaneer Men’s Soccer Headed Back to MWC Tournament

October 30, 2012 at 12:49 pm

It’s becoming a regular expectation for the Beloit College Men’s Soccer team – another trip to the Midwest Conference Tournament.

The Buccaneers secured the #3 seed in the Tourney following their 6-3-1 finish in Conference play. The appearance will be the 14th in the 23 seasons head coach Tim Schmiechen has guided the program and the fourth in the last six seasons. The Bucs are 7-13-3 in Tourney play and have played in the Championship match in eight of the 14 seasons.

Ironically, the Buccaneers opened league play this season at Carroll, dropping a 1-0 decision in Waukesha. They won their next two matches before falling to St. Norbert College on Homecoming Day in Beloit, evening their record at 2-2-0 in MWC play.

From there the Bucs went on a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1), locking up their spot in the four-team Tournament with a 4-3 win at Knox College on October 21.

Overall on the season highlights have been numerous, with Schmiechen getting three big ones. He became the winningest Men’s Soccer coach in Midwest Conference history when the Bucs defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College 1-0 in overtime in Milwaukee on September 12, giving him 194 overall wins to surpass John Pfitsch of Grinnell. Then on October 6 he added the mark for most Conference wins (126), also passing Pfitsch, while also recording his milestone 200th career win in a 2-1 victory over Grinnell College.

Also in the win over Grinnell at the Strong Complex Soccer Field, senior Jackson Wilkins became Beloit’s all-time leader in career points (96) with his game-winning goal, passing Michael Findley’s mark.

Additional individual highlights for the season include Marc Robinson’s two hat tricks, against Knox College and Rockford College; a career-high ten saves by goalkeeper BJ Kiser in a 2-1 overtime win at Concordia-Wisconsin; and Anthony Racine’s hat trick in a 6-0 win over Maranatha Baptist.

For the season to date, Kiser’s six shutouts are tied for second in Beloit history for a season while Robinson’s team-leading 14 goals and 34 points are both the third-most in a single season.

But the team is still pursuing the ultimate goal, an MWC Tournament Championship and a first-ever bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. That quest begins on Friday afternoon.